Revelation 3:19-20 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

This is an absolutely magnificent promise of Scripture, but it is misused a majority of the time, because people only use verse 20, and they use it for evangelizing non-believers. That can be an effective “off label” use, but that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. He is talking to believers who have lost their fellowship with Him by being self-satisfied and content, failing to recognize their need for more of God. That part is clear enough from the verses before this, but somehow people fail to make the connection with verse 20. Verse 19 should be the clue. He makes it clear that, as it says in Proverbs 3:11-12, quoted in Hebrews 12:4-11, discipline doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. God is too good a parent to spoil His children! What Jesus is saying is that He wants to fellowship with us. After all, that’s what eating together is all about. “Fellowship meals” have been a feature of worshiping God ever since Moses at Sinai. Sometimes they get corrupted, as has happened from time to time down through the centuries and as Paul dealt with in 1 Corinthians 12, but that doesn’t mean the concept isn’t valid. Jesus is saying He wants that kind of fellowship with us! When you think about it, that’s rather mind boggling. However, I keep coming back to the reality that God wants neither pew warmers nor slaves; He wants obedient children with whom He can have a good time in warm fellowship.

As a parent of adult children I can really identify with this. I like nothing better than good, adult fellowship with my children, both my physical children and my spiritual children. If I’m having to spend my time correcting them, it’s not so much fun! Likewise, it is painful when they seem uninterested in having fellowship with me. God is pleased with our labors for Him, and He rewards them, (1 Corinthians 3:8, Hebrews 10:25, 2 John 1:8) but what He is after even more than that is fellowship with us. I try to get that across to people, but many, if not most, seem to have a hard time grasping it. That may be because they never really experienced fellowship with their physical parents, but I’m not sure. However, I’m not to give up. I need to keep pressing in for deeper fellowship myself, based on obedient, trusting faith, and I need to keep telling people, with the words the Holy Spirit supplies, about how God loves them so much He not only sent His Son to die for them, He desires to fellowship with them for all eternity, starting right now.

Father, this is a powerful truth You have been building in me over the years. Help me communicate it more and more effectively, so that You may have the warm, close family You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!